7,000 People Die Every Hour…

In 2023, nearly 62 million lives were lost worldwide – an average of around 7,000 deaths every hour.

These numbers reflect the impacts of aging, illness, and conflict, and Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao takes a further look into the countries with the most deaths every hour.

Data is sourced from the latest UN Population Prospects and figures are rounded.

Ranked: Countries with the Most Deaths (2023)

At the top of the list, China lost more than 1,300 people every hour in 2023. This is about 300 more deaths than second-ranked India (roughly 1,000 people ever hour).

Note: Figures are rounded to closest whole number for deaths per hour

Put together, nearly one-in-three deaths every hour occur in India or China.

Going through the rest of the list, the U.S. (340) and Nigeria (305) have nearly the same number of hourly deaths, as do Indonesia (242), and Russia (205).

These six countries account for half of all global deaths every hour.

For two of them, Russia and China, their death rate is currently higher than their birth rate, and with low immigration, both their populations are officially shrinking.

What Shrinking Populations Mean for China and Russia

Both countries will have to contend with an aging population, shrinking workforces, and an increase in related social costs like healthcare.

For Russia, its demographic concerns are also exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, already impacting an economy under sanctions. Brain drain is also a serious issue.

Meanwhile China built its economic engine on top of an abundant and cost-competitive workforce. As it loses that advantage, a potential economic stagnation—similar to Japan in the 90s—could stifle future growth.

We know what the first question is after reading this article. Check out: Global Births per Hour, by Country for an overview of the other side of the spectrum.